Airport Close to Sealing Expansion Deal Without Go-Ahead

Burbank Airport managers are close to striking a deal to purchase about 50 acres for approximately $32 million to expand the airport, without asking for the approval of its host city.

The Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport Authority is negotiating with Lockheed Martin Corp. to pay cash installments over the next five years to acquire the land it needs for the new, expanded terminal, Vince Marafino, a Lockheed vice president, told city officials.

The city of Burbank, which shares airport control with Glendale and Pasadena, has the power to veto any expansion funded by borrowing and did so earlier this year, pledging no expansion until the airport adopts a mandatory policy to limit noise, a long-held complaint of nearby residents.

Burbank Mayor Dave Golonski Wednesday called the maneuver an “end run” around Burbank, that ignores the legitimate needs of neighboring residents.

“What we suspected was finally brought out into the open,” said Golonski. “I am disappointed that the airport authority hasn’t made an overture to find some kind of common ground with us.”

Victor Gill, spokesman for the Burbank Airport, said he had no comment on how much the land will cost the authority, how the authority will produce the cash and if any deal has been finalized.

Sources, however, said that no deal has been finalized and that the airport managers have already proved to Lockheed executives that they can produce the cash. The airport has accumulated large amounts of cash by charging landing fees and garnering Federal Aviation Administration grants, the sources said.

Marafino could not be reached for comment.

The airport, which will handle more than 5 million passengers this year, has long planned a new terminal and major expansion in response to its growing popularity.

The expansion calls for the 163,000-square-foot terminal to nearly triple in size by 1998, adding five passenger gates to the current 14. By 2010, an additional 205,000 square feet of space would be added, as well as eight more gates.

It could not be learned whether enough funds are available to build the new terminal, as well as buy the land.

In August, the Burbank City Council drew up 11 conditions that the airport authority would have to meet to get the city’s support for the expansion. Chief among them were: a controversial mandatory curfew; the development of a 20-year master plan for the airport; a strict noise abatement policy, and a cap on the number of flights.

The structure of the purchase circumvents the Joint Powers Agreement that established the Authority. The three cities are joint owners of the airport and continue to control it indirectly, with each city appointing three of the nine airport commissioners. The cities also have the power to dismiss any of their airport commissioners and appoint new representatives in their places.

Golonski said the city will fight any attempt to skirt the Joint Powers Agreement, including a legal battle. He added that the city will try to come to a compromise with the authority beforehand.

Golonski, in a memo to fellow council members dated Tuesday, said that “our concern has been that just as the airport authority is trying to circumvent us on the purchase of the land, it will try to circumvent us on the planning and building of the new terminal.”

In the memo, Golonski suggested that perhaps Burbank representatives could trade approval of borrowing for the new terminal in exchange for a guarantee of a veto in “the planning and building of a replacement terminal.”

Last week, the Burbank City Council set aside $500,000 for a legal war chest in airport matters.

Other needs, such as police and schools, could be met with the money, Golonski noted in the memo.

“We certainly do not trust the airport authority and I am sure the feeling is mutual. Any reasonable compromise is going to require some give and take by both sides,” Golonski wrote.